Boss proud of his team's effort against Premiership side
Sunderland 2
Morecambe 0
SHRIMPS' boss Jim Bentley said he was proud of his team as they bowed out of the Capital One Cup at Premiership side Sunderland.
Two goals from Republic of Ireland international James McClean gave Sunderland the victory but Morecambe matched their big name rivals for much of the game without really testing Kieren Westwood.
Bentley said: "I'm proud of the lads because they put in a great performance.
"Martin O'Neill came into the dressing room after the game and praised the lads for trying to play football the right way and that was nice. We knew we were always going to be up against and it could have looked to make it a battle and play a lot of long ball. But that isn't our style and everyone seemed to appreciate that.
"I'm disappointed that we lost but I am certainly not too disappointed with the performance against a side full of internationals.''
McClean opened the scoring on 23 minutes. New signing Adam Johnson, who made an impressive debut, whipped in a corner from the right and McLean nipped in front of his marker to head past Barry Roche from eight yards out.
The home side maintained their pressure and Roche was forced into an excellent save from Jack Colback’s long range drive before Morecambe had a spell of dominance themselves.
Andy Wright volleyed well over and Richard Brodie flashed a shot wide from the left hand side and the Shrimps started the second half brightly with Lewis Alessandra drilling a shot inches wide from the edge of the box before the home side scored a second.
Johnson was the creator again with a run down the right which ended with a square ball for McClean who kept his cool to beat Andy Parrish and drill a low shot past Roche.
The Shrimps, to their credit, kept attacking and created pressure again with Jack Redshaw forcing Keiren Westwood into a neat save in the dying minutes of the game.
Sunderland: Westwood, Gardner, Bramble, O’Shea, Colback; Johnson, Cattermole (rep Meyler 79), Larsson, Sessegnon, Fletcher (rep Saha 66), McClean (rep Campbell 72). Subs not used: KIlgallon, Cuellar, Elmohamady, Mignolet.
Morecambe: Roche; Parrish, Haining, Fenton, Threlfall; Wright; McDonald, Fleming, Reid (rep Ellison 60); Alessandra (rep Redshaw 71), Brodie (rep Carlton 60). Subs not used: Arestidou, Burrow, McCready, Drummond.
Ref: R Madley.
Att: 22,871.